Nissan Forum Concept

'Why can't a minivan be like this?' Nissan asks.

Nissan designer Bruce Campbell hopes that after viewing the Nissan Forum concept at the 2008 North American International Auto Show in Detroit in January people will walk away saying, “Why not? Why can’t a minivan be like this?”

The Forum is a family vehicle with trackless sliding doors, but it doesn’t look like a traditional minivan—or even an unconventional Nissan Quest–type minivan. “This is something one wouldn’t be ashamed to drive,” Campbell tells Car and Driver in an interview.

“It’s an exploration of an emotional side of minivans, which stands in direct contrast to their primarily utilitarian function of carrying people and their stuff,” says Larry Dominique, head of product planning and strategy for Nissan North America.

But “the Forum will not walk away from functionality, as that is what is paramount for this kind of vehicle,” Dominique says. The minivan still trumps in functionality and price. And its hallmark feature, the sliding door, remains a major attribute in this concept.

The thinking runs contrary to strategic turns being taken by Ford and GM in replacing their minivans with large crossovers featuring conventional doors. The continued growth and popularity of car-based SUVs is causing the minivan segment to shrink. It is forecast to fall to 650,000 U.S. sales annually by 2010 after many years above the million-unit mark.

But Nissan, like Honda, Toyota, Hyundai/Kia, and Chrysler, sees minivans as important vehicles. Dominique says that is because crossovers address only 85 percent of minivan buyers’ needs.

Campbell agrees the need for minivans won’t go away, and he says working on the Forum project was fun. “Nissan must push the envelope in all cases. It’s what people expect,” he says, and to follow the design of others will mean failure.

Even so, Campbell says the vehicle has a “credible presence” and that everything about the vehicle is feasible.

Dominique agrees that the interior is close to what could be realistically produced, part of a deliberate move to create concept cars better mated to reality. “We need to focus on things that can get into production.”

Nissan will gauge showgoers’ reactions to the vehicle before committing to it as the direction for the Quest replacement, Dominique says. And he says we must wait until late next year for Nissan to make its decision known.

Tom Lane, corporate vice-president in charge of product planning and strategy for parent Nissan Motor Corporation, adds that it is too early to say if the Forum name will make it to a production vehicle.